Phononic of Durham, NC, USA (which provides solid-state thermoelectric cooling solutions) has unveiled its proprietary non-hermetic compatible thermoelectric cooler (TEC) platform designed to provide high reliability and cooling performance, coupled with lower power consumption, for laser packaging. Building on its expertise in precision-cooled, solid-state refrigeration and freezing technologies, Phononic says that the advance brings to market a solution to meet both performance and reliability targets for sub-components within telecom and data center applications.

Since most optical components manufacturers have experience in designing either cooled laser packages or non-hermetic laser packages, Phononic notes that it has experience in both of these areas, with its cooled, non-hermetic laser package design creating a pathway to large reductions in package costs.

“Optical component and module suppliers are under pressure to both rapidly innovate optical communications technology and, at the same time, meet aggressive price points to keep up with competition,” comments Vladimir Kozlov, founder & CEO of optical communications market research company LightCounting. “These trends have led to increased demand for more cost-effective sub-components,” he adds.

“Laser performance can be significantly hindered by environmental challenges inside laser packages,” says Phononic’s general manager & VP of sales Kevin Granucci. “Humidity, condensation, corrosion and even ice formation are all potential impediments that can degrade laser slope efficiency or increase coupling losses, which reduce data transmission rate, reach and the usable lifetime of a TOSA [transmitter optical subassembly]. Hermetic packaging to safeguard against these conditions has historically been challenging and expensive to implement,” he adds. “Non-hermetic laser packaging that not only overcomes reliability and cost obstacles, but is cooled as well, could greatly advance today’s optical communications technology, further accelerating the global transition to wireless 5G networks.”

The new non-hermetic TEC platform can be applied to a wide range of TEC designs, and Phononic encouraged customers to work with it to create application-specific solutions. The firm’s technical team offers thermal design experience to facilitate rapid deployment of a non-hermetic laser package that is insulated from the performance and reliability risks of high humidity and heat. Combined with Phononic’s platform, this support enables customers to avoid possible pitfalls early in the design cycle and optimize performance in even the most challenging of environments, without increasing power consumption or compromising performance for cost, says the firm.

Phononic is exhibiting in booth #5831 at the Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC) in San Diego, CA, USA (11-15 March).

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